Reporter’s Note
What education stories would you like to see in the Times Free Press? What haven’t we covered that we should? Send your education story ideas to mmangrum@timesfreepress.com.
– Meghan
THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION NEWS
Despite some lost time and early dismissals due to the colossal nightmare that was Chattanooga’s water crisis the past few days, students are getting settled in to their classrooms as Hamilton County Schools enters the fifth week of school.
This week, Hamilton County is celebrating an increase in its overall graduation rate and three schools are celebrating a perfect rate, which means that 100% of the school’s students graduated alongside their classmates!
Chattanooga High Center for Creative Arts, Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences and Lookout Valley Middle/High School are all celebrating 100% graduation rates for the 2018-19 school year.
Falling graduation rates at two of the district’s schools might come up at a meeting with Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn today, though. The state schools chief is in town to meet with the State Partnership Network Advisory Board and discuss progress and goals in the district’s priority schools.
Both Brainerd High and The Howard School, which are part of the district’s Opportunity Zone, saw graduation rates tank this past year.
Meanwhile, Hamilton County school board members will be discussing Superintendent Bryan Johnson’s performance this past year as well as how to spend a $5.7 million budget surplus at their Thursday meeting, and some district officials might soon be back in court after a new lawsuit was filed in the 2016 Woodmore bus crash case.
Keep reading for these stories and more!